African Americans Ain't Crazy, We Just Have More Folks Suffering From Dementia

By large numbers, elderly African Americans are dealing with the silent epidemic known as Alzheimer’s. This isn't the first time we've heard this, with USA Today writing back in 2005 about how Blacks are more susceptible to the brain-wasting condition than any other group in America.

Despite this, the first in-depth study to interview African Americans caregivers on how they seek help in caring for people with dementia was just completed by Travonia Brown-Hughes at the University of Kentucky.

She interviewed 17 caregivers who had received confirmed diagnoses of Alzheimer’s for a family member. Although this seems like a small sample, in qualitative studies the researchers stop when they find people telling the similar stories over and over.

Over half of the caregivers thought the elder’s symptoms were the result of a stressful event, emerged as one theme. Typical was one man who told Brown-Hughes, his grandfather had died, and four years later they noticed their grandmother’s symptoms but thought: “Oh, it’s still the stress. Cause she was having to deal with probate court and all that. Had the cousins wanting their share. We thought the stress would go away…her memory would start to come back. And it got worse.” This response is usual for this group: the older person’s not recovered from the loss of a friend, or they moved house. Their symptoms are seen as part of a transient state, or as the product of natural aging. The man with the ill grandmother said he knew, “something’s not right but I really didn’t associate it with Alzheimer’s.”

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BLACK PEOPLE HAVE A SECRET: WE SUFFER FROM ALZHEMER'S TOO!

Increasing numbers of African-Americans are at high risk of Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia because they have cardiovascular disease or diabetes, and because they are reaching their 60s, 70s, and 80s, when dementia typically strikes.

"As we enter an era in which there will be treatments to slow progression of dementia, it's going to be very important to make sure that such treatments move" into ethnic communities as well, said Dr. Robert C. Green , a neurology professor at the Boston University School of Medicine.

A study of residents in New York's upper Manhattan found that African-Americans were twice as likely as whites to develop Alzheimer's, even when researchers controlled for other health differences. And a study of African-Americans across the country found that they were 80 percent more likely to develop all types of dementia than whites.

Misconceptions about dementia are widespread. In some studies, African-Americans were more likely than whites to dismiss memory loss as typical of old age and to feel that they were not at risk for the illness. That may help explain why studies find that African-Americans often don't get care until the disease has progressed significantly.

"We missed the opportunity to have our Magic Johnson in the world of Alzheimer's, to show everyone that this is not a predominantly white disease," said Michael Kincade , coordinator of medical and community outreach for the state Alzheimer's Association chapter.

Kincade said there have been several prominent African-Americans with Alzheimer's, but they have not been public about their illness, in the way that Johnson was about HIV. "The most frustrating thing is trying to get people to grasp that the memory loss and other symptoms are not normal."

"If an African-American women is being seen for diabetes and hypertension, there should be red flags that go up," said Gerald Flaherty , director of medical and scientific programs for the Alzheimer's Association in Massachusetts. "We hope to uncover that untreated parent at home."

By Alice Dembner/The Globe